Cytokine profile and maternal depression and anxiety symptoms in mid-pregnancy—the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study

Abstract

Maternal prenatal psychological symptoms are associated with child health outcomes, e.g., atopic diseases. Altered prenatal functioning of the immune system is a potential mechanism linking maternal symptoms with child health. Research on prenatal distress and cytokines is warranted. The study population comprised consecutive N = 139 women from a general population-based FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study. Standardized questionnaires for depressive, overall anxiety, and pregnancy-related anxiety symptoms were used. Serum concentrations of selected cytokines were analyzed using Multiplex bead arrays from samples drawn at the gestational week 24. The concentrations of T helper (Th)2-related interleukins (IL)-9 and IL-13 and Th1-related IL-12 correlated positively with prenatal depressive and overall anxiety symptom scores (p values, range 0.011-0.029). Higher interferon (IFN)-γ/IL-4 ratio (p = 0.039) and Th2-related IL-5 (p = 0.007) concentration correlated positively with depressive symptoms. Pregnancy-related anxiety score correlated positively with IL-12 (p = 0.041), IL-13 (p = 0.025), and anti-inflammatory IL-10 (p = 0.048) concentrations. IL-6 and TNF-α concentrations were unrelated to prenatal symptoms. As a novel finding, we observed positive correlations between concentrations of potentially proallergenic cytokines and maternal prenatal psychological symptoms. Different symptom measures may yield distinct cytokine responses. This provides hypotheses for studies on mechanisms bridging prenatal stress and child health.

Interleukin 17 selectively predicts better outcomes with bupropion-SSRI combination: Novel T cell biomarker for antidepressant medication selection

“…Levels of IL-17 and other biomarkers were measured in all samples at the same time, blinded to treatment allocation and outcomes by the Microarray Core at UT Southwestern Medical Center using the Bioplex Pro ™ human cytokine standard 27-plex kit (Bio-Rad Laboratories, Hercules, CA, USA) with a Bio-plex ® 200 instrument that was equipped with Bio-Plex Manager software, version 6.0 (Bio-Rad Laboratory, Hercules, CA, USA). This commonly used (39, 40) 27-plex kit measures IL-17, Th1 (interferon gamma and tumor necrosis factor alpha), Th2 (IL-4, IL-5, IL-9, and IL-13), and non Th1/Th2 (IL-1 beta, IL-1 receptor antagonist, IL-8, IL-6, and macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP) 1 alpha and beta) markers, which were interpreted only if the intra- and inter-assays coefficients of variation were less than 10% of detection limits (or precision range) specified by manufacturer. The levels of IL-17 and other immune markers are expressed in pg/ml after correcting for 4-fold dilution using the standards provided in the kit (Bio-Rad Laboratory, Hercules, CA, USA).…”

Maternal tiredness and cytokine concentrations in mid-pregnancy

“…We hypothesized that sleep disturbances, presenting as greater levels of insomnia, tiredness, and sleep loss, and as lessened general sleep quality, would be associated with a proinflammatory immune response. We have previously observed that maternal prenatal symptoms of depression and anxiety are positively associated with peripheral circulating cytokines IL-5, IL-9, and IL-13 in mid-pregnancy [26]. Also, as sleep disturbances are frequently observed in depression and anxiety, symptoms of depression and anxiety were controlled for in the present study [29].…”

“…The study population has been previously described [26] and, hence, only a brief description is given here. The study participants were drawn from a larger population-based pregnancy cohort, the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study (www.finnbrain.fi) [31], currently ongoing in Southwest Finland.…”

“…Maternal pre-pregnancy BMI (kg/m 2 ) was collected from maternity clinic records (missing BMI values were imputed by the study population median value for four subjects). The level of education was defined as low (basic education, 9 years), medium (undergraduate studies, vocational education, 9-12 years), or high (university degree or comparable, over 12 years) [26].…”

“…Among pregnant women with depression, low sleep efficiency (the ratio of the total sleep duration at night compared to the time spent in bed) has been shown to relate to higher IL-6, whereas a greater amount of naps and shorter sleep duration (< 7 h per night) have been associated with higher TNF-a levels, and with higher IL-8 levels, respectively [24]. As depression may alter cytokine levels, these results are not easily comparable with those of non-depressed pregnant women [24][25][26][27][28]. However, the association between decreased sleep efficiency and enhanced IL-6 production has also been observed among non-depressed women in late pregnancy [10].…”